A container cap is typically used to selectively and removeably cover the open upper end of a container, such as used for pills or medication. One problem that arises with medication, both prescription and nonprescription, is that patients sometimes do not remember to take the medication at the designated times (e.g., every four hours). Alternately, sometimes patients do not remember when the last time that medication was taken. In an attempt to address these problems, various timing systems and timers have been developed.
Modern pharmaceutical practice relies on patients to consistently take their medication at one or more specific intervals during the day. Typically, the patient's doctor will create a medication schedule for the patient and instruct the patient to follow the schedule. However, this can become an issue: (1) since in our multi-tasking and multi-media based living and working environments, which competes for our attention spans, can impact the patient's ability to reliably remember when the last time they took their medication; (2) the patient's memory capacity can be impacted if they are elderly and/or dealing with the pain and stresses of illness; or (3) when the patient has multiple medications that may be taken at different times, the schedule can quickly become complex and unwieldy.
In an effort to simplify medication schedules and keep better track of when a particular medication was last taken, various products and methods have been developed. U.S. Pat. No. (“USPN”) 6,707,763, issued to Osberg, and hereby incorporated by reference as though set forth below in its entirety, discloses a pharmaceutical bottle timer cap that informs the user how long it has been since the medication in the bottle was taken. The Osberg timer cap automatically starts the timer when the cap is replaced on the bottle after the medication has been taken. But, the Osberg timer cap discloses and claims an activation switch that is biased on an outer edge. In this manner the timer is activated by the side pin being displaced directly by the lip of the bottle opening. Unfortunately, the side activation switch of Osberg requires the use of a relatively complex mechanism to translate the mechanical pin displacement to a resetting of the integrated electronic timer. As such, the Osberg side-pin activation switch requires a significant number of components that limits the reduction of the manufacturing costs of the timer cap and the improvements in the reliability of the switch properly working over repeated cycles of use. Also, the Osberg side-pin activation switch requires a different timer module design for each timer cap design that needs to be manufactured for each of the various sizes of pharmaceutical bottles and vials, this adds significant timer cap manufacturing and inventory costs. Cost and repeated-use reliability are key drivers for the high-volume consumer target markets of retail pharmacy, drug manufacturers, and managed health-care providers. Also, a timer cap with a side-pin activation switch has an inherent disadvantage compared to a timer cap with a center-pin activation switch as it does not leverage the benefits of mechanical symmetry, which help improve performance sensitivity and reliability. A timer cap with center-pin activation would enable a standard timer module design to be used for all sizes and styles of timer caps, which significantly reduces timer cap manufacturing an inventory costs.
Another example of a cap with a timer is U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,661, issued to Walters describes a closure cap having an integrated timer. The timer is activated and deactivated by a moveable disk that engages and disengages a battery beneath the timer. The timer cap, and more specifically, the moveable disk, described in the Walters patent, however, may be somewhat awkward and unreliable. The disk may stick in position if it is not properly aligned. Accordingly, the timer cap described in the Walters patent may be difficult to manipulate and may not provide an accurate indication of time. Also, the complexity of the design and the number of components required, make the manufacturing cost prohibitively high for the high-volume consumer markets.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,123, issued to Durso, describes a programmable medication timer on a closure cap that indicates the appropriate time for the user to take medication. The timer described in the Durso patent, however, is very complicated and requires specific programming to remind the user to take medication.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,408,843, issued to Brandon, discloses a cap with a timer wherein the timer includes an interior activation post. However, the Brandon interior activation post is attached to a flexible diaphragm, wherein the diaphragm is separate from the sealing disk. Accordingly, the Brandon cap is very complicated, unreliable, and would be very expensive to manufacture.
Thus, there remains a long felt need in the art for an intelligent and easy-to-use timer cap that has a streamlined and cost-effective design that is achieved through the use of a centralized activation switch.